Student project blog exploring the themes of anxiety and how it can be understood and portrayed through symbolism.
Semester 2 project at Duncan and Jordanstone college of art.

Tuesday, 5 March 2013

Practiced based research - Lighting and it's types

Since working in a studio environment I've been looking into the different types of lights and their different effects. I also had a lighting tutorial in University to show them working and how their settings effect mood, tone, and shadow. It's been very helpful and useful to how different lights can effect photographs so dramatically. Since in previous photography all I ever really used was natural light. I wanted to research the different kinds and what their uses differ from each other for self reference.All light can be divided into
categories based on the type (source), the intensity, and the direction. One of
the most basic divisions is between natural and artificial light. Another is
hard versus diffuse (soft) light. A third set of categories distinguishes the
direction from which the light is coming, which it also determines where
highlights and shadows will appear in the image. Side, frontal, and back light
are a few examples of direction. But, before diving into specifics, it’s
important to understand the relationship of these categories to one another.

Natural
Light

Natural light is the best type of
light for many photographic situations. In fact, the broader goal for many
photographers using artificial light is simply to emulate the qualities of
natural light. One positive note on natural light: no batteries needed. It’s
available anywhere you go and, apart from the subject matter, it’s probably the
quality of the natural light that drew you to the scene in the first place. In
short, the one reason why natural light looks so good in images is that it is
natural.

As previously noted, natural
light comes from the Sun (or other “suns,” in the case of starlight), and each
type of natural light has its own qualities:

Full, midday sunlight versus early-morning or
late-afternoon

Open shade

Overcast skies

Sunrise or sunset

The deep blues of twilight

Moonlight

Starlight

Window light

Reflected sunlight, both soft and hard

Daylight illumination from a frosted skylight

Other natural sources not from the sun include
firelight and lightning

Natural light can also be great
for photos of people, though it may sometimes prove more difficult to use
because it requires careful planning and observation. It takes more skill to
find the ideal natural light for the idea, emotion, or mood you wish to convey.

Learning to evaluate and take
advantage of natural light will dramatically improve your photographs.

Taking Advantage of Natural
Light: Time of Day
Pay close attention to the shadows, highlights and feeling of depth created in
photos captured around 7:45 a.m. as compared with the photos captured around
7:00 p.m. The light used in the earlier image (7:45 a.m.) helps create more
depth in the scene, and it helps provide the perception of more space between
foreground, middle ground, and background. In the later image (7:00 p.m.), the
light is not helping to create more depth. Spatially, the scene is “flatter” in
terms of contrast, and thus has less depth.

"morning mist" captured
by Robert Strachan

Landscape photographers are known
to use the warm colors and long shadows of morning light. This can create more
drama in the landscape, which may better represent the land itself. If you
search for landscape images in magazines and calendars, you will find many
examples of dramatic light achieved in early-morning hours. You will not see
many landscape images made in midday light, because the increased contrast,
lack of visual depth, and (unsaturated) colors are not what the photographer
thought would best describe the scene.

Obviously, this is a
generalization, but as you pay close attention to the thousands of images you
encounter daily, you’ll likely notice trends in terms of the type of light used
for different situations.

Taking Advantage of Natural Light
– Disabling Your Flash

The one thing that can kill the ambience of natural or existing light is the
on-camera flash. Though this is not as big of an issue when shooting in manual
mode, semi-automatic and fully automatic modes (such as aperture-priority and
sports modes, respectively) can trigger the flash.

The best thing to do is to turn
off the flash in these modes. The camera is programmed to make a good
exposure, and often that includes adding in some of its own light if it feels
there isn’t enough available light for a good exposure. In some cases, the
flash is triggered simply because it has been fooled by the presence of dark
tones in the main subject or the background. This goes back, remember, to your
understanding of how your in-camera (reflective) meter works.

Nothing can destroy the subtlety
and character of natural light more than camera’s built-in flash. If you want
to take advantage of natural light, learn how to turn off your camera’s
built-in flash.

Artificial
Light

Artificial light is any light
that is not natural and depends on an external source of power. This could be
your on-camera flash, external flash units or studio strobes, tungsten photo
floods, an overhead light fixture, fluorescent lights in an office environment,
streetlights, stadium lights, stage lighting for a concert, the twinkling glow
from Christmas-tree lights, neon, and so forth. Like natural light, artificial
light can fall under the larger category of existing or available light (in
other words, light you do not bring to or set up for your subject).

You might decide to use
artificial light for a variety of reasons, including:

When you need maximum control of your scene by
using studio light sources, whether they are strobes or continuous hot
lights.

When there is not enough natural light to make
an exposure.

When you want to preserve the quality of the
artificial light as an element in your image, such as the warm yellow
light from a corner lamp, the harsh overhead from fluorescent lights, or
the colorful glow of stage or club lights.

Photo captured by keenan butcher

Experimenting with different types of artificial
lighting will help you understand how they influence the image and how your
camera records them. The more you know about the qualities of light, natural
and artificial, the better you can visualize and control the effects they bring. Being able to identify different
sources of artificial light and their inherent qualities will go a long way in
helping you predict how they will affect your photography.Tungsten
Lights

These are also referred to as
incandescent lights. They are most often found in homes, and they are among the
cheapest bulbs to purchase. However, they are much less energy-efficient, and
they give off a good amount of heat. Light from tungsten bulbs can vary quite a
bit in terms of brightness (25-watt bulb versus a 500-watt photo flood, for
example), but this light is generally softer and warmer than fluorescent light.

Halogen
Light

This type of incandescent light
is more energy-efficient and produces a brighter, whiter light source. It is
used in projectors, household lamps, some streetlights, car headlights, and
continuous studio lighting (also referred to as “hot lights”).

Neon
Light

A true neon light will have an
orange-red color and is filled with neon gas, through which a small current is
passed, causing it to glow. What we know as neon signs, which may be a number
of different colors, rely on other types of gases for their color. Though neon
lights don’t really provide enough illumination to be a light source for a
broader scene, they themselves can make for interesting subjects or background
material

Streetlight
(Sodium Vapor)

Like neon lights, sodium-vapor
lights use pressurized gas to produce light. You can identify sodium-vapor
lights by their yellow illumination. If you take a long night exposure using
street lamps as your light source, you’ll notice this same, somewhat eerie
yellow-orange glow pervade your image.

"Street Light" captured
by Sway

Artificial
Light (continued)

In addition to ambient or
available artificial light, there are a number of options with which you can
have more control: namely, flash or strobes. Many digital cameras come with
built-in on-camera flash units that may automatically pop up, ready to fire in
low-light situations (depending on your exposure mode and camera make). As
alluded to earlier, these are generally the least appealing light sources in
terms of effect..

Off-Camera
Flash

An off-camera flash is more
useful and offers many possibilities for positioning the flash, as well as for
using accessories such as a mini flash-softbox or bounce cards to modify the
quality of the light. In order to use an off-camera flash, your camera needs to
have either a hot shoe or flash sync connection.

Club or
Stage Light

Amazing effects can be achieved
with these multicolored directional lights. Stage lights in particular are
extremely powerful, making it easy to isolate separate beams of illumination.
Concerts make liberal use of such effects

Studio
Strobes

These are lighting systems that
run from a power pack that is plugged into a standard power outlet. They
connect to your camera via a sync cord, a slave unit (a device where an
on-camera flash triggers the studio strobes), or a wireless connection. Studio
strobes offer the most versatility and control in how the scene is lit. Their
power output can be varied at the power pack, and they can accept a wide variety
of light-modifying accessories.

As far as studio work goes, for
the new user, the main disadvantage of a strobe system is that you cannot see
the effect that the light will have on the subject. You have to use a flash
meter to determine exposure and take test shots to determine how well the
lighting setup is working. Fortunately, digital cameras provide instant
feedback without the need for costly Polaroid tests.

"Tanisha" captured by
Vishwa Kiran

Lightboxes
and Studio Stands

There is a wide variety of stands
and softbox types. If you plan to shoot on-location, size and weight might be
an issue, and if you plan to keep lights only in the studio, maybe size is not
such a big issue. More important, though, is the quality of light provided by
the various light-modification tools. There are many different shapes of soft
boxes and umbrellas, and they all produce a different quality of light.

Tungsten-Halogen
Lamps

Some portrait studios still use
hot lights for various reasons. There are advantages and disadvantage to both.
In general, these are all terms with which you should be familiar, and this
knowledge will help you choose the right lighting for any situation down the
road.

Hard and
Diffuse Light

We used the terms soft and hard
light several times to describe characteristics of individual artificial light
sources, and, in the case of natural light, qualities relating to specific
times of day. Certainly, all light can be divided into one of these two
categories, also referred to as specular and diffuse light.

Diffuse
Light(or soft)

light is lower in contrast and
more even. As a result, it is often easier to achieve a good exposure for both
highlighted and shadowy areas, as the difference between the two is slight. Diffuse
light can be very complementary for pictures of people where that person’s
likeness is the highest priority.

Diffuse light is either filtered through or bounced off another surface before hitting the subject. Open shade is one source of diffuse light. Other examples include: light filtered through a high canopy of leaves, the shady side of a building, or in the shelter of a doorway. Clouds, fog, dust, smoke, and smog are other environmental circumstances that can yield varying degrees of diffuse light, each serving to block or bounce the sun’s rays. Window light may also provide very soft light, depending on the direction of the sun or how dirty the glassHard LightHard light is directional and generally more intense, thereby heightening contrast. It’s great for building drama in a scene and emphasizing shape and dimension. Deep, defined shadows are characteristics of harsher light. Generally, hard light is used to illustrate an idea or concept, but it does not create a good likeness of a person.Directional LightThe direction from which light hits your subject can have dramatic impact on your shot. Side lighting, for example, is quite effective at sculpting a subject, throwing long shadows, bringing out details, and adding a powerful flair. Backlit scenes can also be dramatic, with the light coming directly towards the camera, creating stark outlines of foreground elements or rendering a subject to complete silhouette. Frontal light tends to “flatten” a subject by minimizing the distance relationships between foreground and background and eliminating shadows that would otherwise give a sense of dimension.The direction of light can also be used to slim a face or make a face look more full. For example, if your subject has a round face, you can use side lighting to give the perception that the subject’s face is not as round. For a thin face you wanted to make a little fuller, you could use more frontal light. The best thing to do is try many different combinations to see what you like and in what situations.

"sculptor" captured by Jan Michael Vincent V Castillo

Directional Light (continued)Additional possibilities, though seldom used, as they are less flattering, include lighting a subject from above or below. Yet, even these have their uses. Lighting a subject from above may reference police questioning or interrogation, or even the sun at midday. Lighting from below may conjure the feeling of telling ghost stories around a campfire, with the story’s narrator holding a flashlight under his chin for eerie effect.In addition to the direction of light, you can also play with how this relationship changes when your subject is not facing the camera, but instead facing away, or into the light.Different lighting types and fixtures explained HARD LIGHTThe
quality of light produced by either a natural or artificial light
source is often categorized as Hard or Soft light. An unobscured sun or
an undiffused Redhead for example are both hard light sources. These
types of hard lighting sources reveals shape and texture and creates the
overall modeling for your subject. Hard light gives the picture
definition and vigor, and is essential to create a three-dimensional
illusion. Hard Light refers to a point source of light, such as the sun
or a single open-faced Redhead, which produces hard shadows. The best
point sources are also very controllable, with the use of barn doors and
projection attachments for example. Hard light can be used in many ways
as it has a long throw, however, it does create dense and high contrast
shadows that need to be watched as they can produce very unflattering
results. Hard light is imminently necessary and desirable for some
shooting situations, especially when you want to simulate intense
sunlight or the crisp light of the moon. However, hard light has to be
used carefully. Strong modeling and dramatic shadows will give your
images a dynamic appeal but, if it is used badly or inappropriately,
hard light can produce crude modeling and coarse tonal contrasts. For
most of todays shooting situations, many Lighting Cameramen like to use
at least some level of diffusion to give you that feeling of natural
lighting. Even a light frost sheet of diffusion material attached to the
barn doors of a fresnel will help create a more natural lighting
effect.SOFT LIGHTMost
modern lighting is a subtle blend of hard and soft light. Although most
key light sources are hard, you will usually want to control their
shadows and tonal contrast by introducing a certain amount of soft 'fill
light'. Soft Light refers to a light source that has a large surface
area in relation to the subject, so that the light 'wraps' around the
subject. In the past, lighting cameramen would achieved this effect by
bouncing light off ceilings and walls, but this is now largely
considered to be a very crude way of achieving soft light, as it is very
uncontrollable and can end up producing very flat images. Soft light
sources tend to destroy texture and are not so controllable as hard
light so soft light sources are normally used to fill in the shadows and
control the contrast created by the main key light, which would
normally be hard. More common ways to create controllable soft light is
to use softboxes; these are black fabric boxes with white diffusion
material across the front, which converts the hard light source into a
soft light source. Softboxes
can be used with fresnels and open-faced lights such as Redheads and
Arrilites. However, they do turn an inefficient light source into an
even more inefficient one. The advantage of softboxes is that they
produce a lovely soft light source and they pack away efficiently.
However, setting them up and packing them away can be time consuming,
especially when they have been on a hot Redhead for a few hours as the
ring and other metal parts will be very hot and you will have to wait
for them to cool down first; this partly offsets the portability
advantage when compared to something like the fluorescent Kino Flo
Diva-Lite, which produces a lovely soft light and only takes seconds to
set up and tear down. The latter also has the advantage of being slim
when set up, so it does not take up valuable shooting space. However,
fluorescent units like the Kino Flo Diva-Lite have a very short throw
compared to hard light sources, which means you have to move the lights
in much closer to your subject. All soft lights can benefit from the use
of grids (also known as egg crates). These grids enable the soft light
to be controlled so that the spread of light is confined to the subject
and does not spill all over the set.TUNGSTEN/HALOGEN LIGHTS (Quartz lamps)A
lamp that uses a tungsten filament. Also known as Hot lights. These are
filament lights with the same characteristics as a domestic table lamp
in a house, but usually a lot bigger. The biggest one currently in
general use in the film market is 20,000 watts. This light is huge, but
most portable solutions for mobile crews are no bigger than 2000 watts
and with today's modern DV cameras a 1000-watt unit would be as powerful
as you would want to go.Colour: Nominally 3200K although it can vary, usually downwards towards 3000KAdvantages: Cheap to purchase and uncomplicated; like a
household light, they plug directly into the mains so there is no need
for an additional ballast (a ballast is similar to a power
supply/transformer, except designed to limit amperage to a specific
level). Comes in many fixture designs, some of which are very
controllable. One of the most relevant ones available on the market
today is the Dedolight, which also gets over many of the disadvantages
such as short bulb life, long term costs, heat and inefficiency, while
also providing astonishing lighting control, quality and flexibility.Disadvantages: Hot to work with as barn doors get really hot.
Because of their heat they can turn your environment into a sauna very
quickly, which can make life very uncomfortable for your
actors/presenters and create extra work for make-up artists as the heat
causes foreheads to sweat. If shooting food, the excess heat can cause
it to melt. Bulb life can be disappointingly short, ad this to the often
expensive bulbs, and it all adds up to a very expensive long term
purchase. Because it has a colour temperature of 3200K, when it needs to
be used in daylight, a colour correction filter is required and up to
half the light output is lost when you need it the most. Inefficient,
Lumen-Per-Watt; this is the least efficient technology on the market
today.HMI (Hydrargyrum Medium-arc-length Iodide)HMIs
are arc lights contained in a sealed capsule.The HMI (and the MSR
version) has a number of advantages over Tungsten lights. The main one
being its incredible efficiency; it can produce five times the light
output of tungsten light per watt i.e. more of its power consumption is
going into the actual light output, as opposed to heat generation, which
means less heat and less power consumption. Because it is a
daylight-balanced light, it can be used to great effect outside as a
fill in light to the sun. Again there is a huge range of HMI units
available from 200w right up to 18K. The average size for the mobile
crew is around 400w. HMIs require a special power supply known as a
ballast. The role of the ballast is to limit eh amperage that runs
through the arc. The ballast also outputs the correct voltage for a
particular HMI globe and also includes special circuitry to 'strike' (or
start) the arc.Colour: Nominally 5600K daylight. However this can vary from
one manufacturer to another and can also vary depending on the age of
the unit and/or bulb.Advantages: Great efficiency and because it is 5600K daylight
balanced it can be used to full effect in the most lumen challenging
environments. Low power consumption and less heat. Comes in many
interesting fixture designs.Disadvantages: Expensive to buy as it is a much more
complicated unit compared to a tungsten lamp. Bulbs are pricey but life
times are generally reasonable. A high voltage power supply or ballast
is required to run the light, which adds a little to set up times and
can also be heavy to transport.FLUORESCENT LIGHTSA
very popular - and relatively new - addition to this list of lighting
equipment are fluorescent instruments. Fluorescent lights are a phosphor
based lamp technology, which relies on a number of elements to make
them work well in a video/film environment. For many years they had a
bad reputation for producing green spikes and irregular colour problems
as well as flicker problems. These problems have now been overcome
mainly by the great work of a Hollywood based company called Kino Flo.
In the late 80s, Kino Flo introduced colour balanced tubes in both
tungsten 3200K and daylight 5600K. The research and development of Kino
Flo have evened out the nasty green spikes and eliminated any flicker at
the same time. These units have all the advantages of regular
industrial fluorescent lights; only without the sickly green spike or
flicker. The Kino Flo Diva-Lite has a built in high-frequency ballast
and dimmer. The Diva-Lite is a small lightweight portable unit that is
very easy to transport, set up and pack away.Advantages: Beautifully soft quality of light that wraps
around its subject without the need for inefficient and space hungry
diffusion solutions such as softboxes. Great colour with professional
bulbs (Kino Flo) and available in both daylight and tungsten; so no
inefficient filters stealing light when you need it most. Cool running,
no heat, which keeps the subject cool as well as the working
environment. Low energy, great efficiency (lumen-per-watt), which is why
it is so cool. Fast set up and teardown times in comparison to some
other soft light sources.Disadvantages: More bulky to carry than a tungsten light with a
softbox, this however can be out weighed by set up times. More
expensive to buy than tungsten lights, but not as pricey as HMI units
and ballasts.LED LIGHTSThere
is no doubt that LED lights are the future. The advantages of LED
lights are many, including: cold running, lightweight, compact, low
power consumption, to name a few. 95% of the power sent to an LED light
is transferred into actual light, whereas with a tungsten/halogen light,
approximately 75% of the power is transferred into heat; great if you
are heating your house, not so great if you are trying to light a set.
Although LED lights are relatively new in the world of video and TV
productions, they are fast making in-roads onto sets around the world.
They are also very popular in corporate and location video productions
due to their compact size and lightweight. Unlike tungsten filament
lights, LED lights are cool/cold running; even when left on all day.
There are many advantages to cool-running lights. Apart from the obvious
health and safety advantages, they won't cook your talent on set.
Because the technology is relatively new, prices are still a bit on the
high side, also, the light 'throw' from LEDs is not as good as say a
regular Blonde or Redhead light; but this is changing as technology
improves.Advantages:Cold running so no health and safety issues, no
more burned fingertips or exploding bulbs. Low power consumption so can
run off batteries all day. Lighter and more compact so easy to
transport, set up and pack away.
Disadvantages: The 'throw' is considerably less than
regular Tungsten lighting. Colour balance can be vague on certain
cheaper brands so check with a colour meter before purchasing;
regardless of what manufacture blurb tells you..REDHEADSA
small portable mains powered tungsten lighting unit, usually 800 watts
in power output. The Redhead is an open-faced light designed in the
1970's. It is called the Redhead because it was always (and largely
still is) red in colour. Rumor has it that the inventor needed to use a
plastic composite to build the heads out of, and red was the only colour
he could get his hands on. Today, Ianiro and Photon Beard continue that
colour tradition, Arri, however, now use the colour blue. By today's
standards the Redhead is considered unmanageable i.e. it is a difficult
light source to control and is even considered to be a little
over-powered for modern DV camcorders that simply don't need that much
lighting power due to their excellent low-light capabilities. The
Redhead (by today's standards) is inefficient, runs very hot and the
bulbs tend to have a short life and are also expensive to replace.
However, the Redhead sometimes has its moments; for example when a
volume of light is needed and finesse is not an issue; such as lighting a
green-screen. Manufacturers include: Arri, Ianiro, Photon Beard,
Strand. BLONDESBlondes
are the more powerful 2000 watt tungsten big brother of the Redhead and
like the Redhead, the Blonde is an old open-faced lighting unit
technology. The Blonde is named so because the colour of its case was
always yellow (or blonde). They were called Blondes as kind of a follow
up name to the Redhead; I guess somebody thought it would be a smart
thing to do. These days not all Blondes are yellow in colour, Arri's
Blonde (called the Arrilite 2000) is in fact blue. Like Redheads,
Blondes will become very hot in operation, which can create a hot and
uncomfortable working environment for your cast and crew. Like the
Redhead, they are also very uncontrollable with just 4 barn doors to
help shape the light. However, Blondes do have there uses when extreme
amounts of light is called for. Although Blondes are an older lighting
instrument design, they are still in wide use in many studios around the
world today. Manufacturers include: Arri, Ianiro, Photon Beard, Strand. FRESNEL (150 watt juniors to 20,000 watt large film lights)Invented
in 1822 by French physicist Augustin Jean Fresnel. The Fresnel light is
a lensed lighting instrument and has been around for many years in many
guises. It is an optical system designed to focus light efficiently.
The Fresnel optical system is used on many different wattage heads and
is an improvement in terms of control in comparison to Redheads and
other open faced lights, but the Fresnel still does not get any where
near the focusable control of a Dedolight, which uses two internal
focusable lenses, as opposed to just one glass lens on the front. When
used in tungsten heads the same issues apply as to heat verses wattage,
which is not good, as power consumption can be an issue. However, the
Fresnel lens lighting unit is in common use on all film sets where the
bigger versions are a staple to the lighting professional. For the small
crew Fresnels such as the Arri Junior range are a great option, they
range from 150 watts to 650 watts. Other more efficient solutions are
available, such as the Dedolight and the Kino Flo Diva-Light.
Manufacturers include: Arri, Ianiro, Photon Beard, Strand. DEDOLIGHT

Invented
by the German DoP Dedo Weigert in the 1990's. Without doubt the most
versatile and controllable hard light on the market today. It normally
runs off mains but can also run off any 12v battery such as a car
cigarette lighter socket. Don't let its small size fool you; this light
will be the first one out of your car every time. With a spot to flood
ratio of 1:20 (the next best technology is 1:6) a 150 watt Dedolight
produces the same light output of a 500 watt fresnel on flood. On spot
it has an incredible throw of over a 100 feet. The Dedolight also has a
projector attachment system that uses gobos to throw many different
focusable effects such as background patterns, venetian blinds, sunlight
through trees etc. All of this comes at a price, but the Dedolight is
very economical to run once bought and also has excellent bulb life and
when they do eventually go, they only cost £3.50 each to replace. In
January 2006 Dedo Weigert designed a brand new Dedo 'Soft Light'. There
are a few options available with the new soft light, but the most
popular model is the DLH1X150 Tungsten Soft Light, which is designed to
fit inside the small softbox designed specially for it; you can also
remove the front baffle diffuser from the softbox to get a harder light
source with more spread as well as being able to buy an 'Egg Crate' to
attach to the front of the softbox to make the soft light more
directional. The new soft lights are available in 150, 300 and 1000 watt
power outputs and start from £375 including softbox and inline dimmer
switch. If you are buying for the long-term (unlike cameras, lights have
a long working life) you could do a lot worse than invest in a kit of
Dedolights.KINO FLO DIVA-LITEKino
Flo mastered perfect colour balanced 3200K and 5600K fluorescent
flicker-free tubes in the late 1980's. A compact fluorescent lighting
unit that consists of four 55-watt colour corrected bulbs in kit form
for easy transportation. The advantage of this system is the speed of
use coupled with a practical lightweight fixture design, and most
importantly, the colour correct quality of light that it emits. The
Diva-Lite can be bulbed with either tungsten or daylight broadcast
quality bulbs, making it very efficient in all environments without the
loss of light due to filters. It is also possibly the fastest way to
achieve high quality soft light on location. Created by Kino Flo, who
have an Oscar for their fluorescent lighting system.